Jane Eyre

by Charlotte Bronte

Published: 1847

Country: United Kingdom

Publisher: Smith, Elder & Co

Few novels attain the status of instant classic, but Jane Eyre is certainly one of them. Recognized as a great work, even before the extraordinary details of the lives of the Brontes, a family unique in having three sisters all of whom were major writers, were widely known. Jane Eyre represented something new in English fiction. It is the voice of the narrator that is instantly memorable, reflecting on a childhood of cruelty and neglect. Styled as autobiography, the heroine is shown as having no obvious advantages – no beauty or wealth – except for her intelligence and resilience. The orphaned Jane has to overcome a loveless upbringing before taking her place in the world as a humble governess. What might be the predictable clichéd romance of her love for her employer, the forbidding, Byronic, Rochester, takes an unexpected twist with the revelation of his hidden past. The temptations and the obstacles that Jane must overcome form the heart of her struggle for recognition and true independence. To have the book published, Charlotte Bronte used the pseudonym Currer Bell, since at the time a woman could not be expected to deal with such controversial issues; but readers of all kinds have found the story of Jane’s thwarted, but ultimately triumphant, capacity for love, as compelling today as on its publication in 1847.

How does Charlotte Brontë develop the adult Jane Eyre through the presentation of the child? Brontë presents many of Jane's characteristics in her adult years through the development of Jane's childhood.